Raiders' Khalil Mack a dream, former coaches say

University at Buffalo defensive coordinator Lou Tepper cringed when a local police officer told him he'd had an encounter with one of his players a couple of months back.

"You hear that, you start to twitch a little bit," Tepper said.

Dennis Gilbert, a cop who is also the football coach at St. Joe's High in Buffalo, recognized Khalil Mack immediately. Mack approached Gilbert holding a small white purse he'd found in a snow bank.

"He wanted to know if we could find the owner," Gilbert said.

A fellow officer opened the purse to find an iPhone, credit cards, cash and jewelry. A short time later, the purse and its contents were returned to the grateful owner who had been retracing her steps a block away, frantic and losing hope for its return.

Khalil Mack, the first round pick for the Oakland Raiders in the NFL draft, speaks with the media at an introductory press conference at the team's headquarters in Alameda, Calif. on Friday, May 9, 2014. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)
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Kristopher Skinner
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"You always hear the stories about kids who do the wrong things," Gilbert said. "Here's a good kid, doing the right thing, making the right decisions."

Even with the background checks necessitated for a top-10 pick, the Raiders hadn't heard of Mack's act of integrity. Even without it, they were convinced Mack was worthy of being the face of their defense for the next decade in making him the fifth pick of the NFL draft.

The Raiders rookie draft class, plus undrafted free agents and some players on a tryout basis, convene at the club's rookie camp starting Friday. Mack reportedly signed his rookie deal Thursday and will be ready to go.

Mack, according to those who know him best, is described as earnest and hard-working, driven to be the best. It's only between the white lines where he shows an edge.

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"Off the field, he's the nicest, most humble, sweetest kid you could ever meet in your life," said Waides Ashmon, Mack's coach at Westwood High in Port St. Lucie, Fla. "On the field, he plays mad, with a chip on his shoulder, and that's exciting to watch."

Ashmon had been at Westwood for a month when an assistant told him about Mack, a junior basketball player who had recovered from a torn patellar tendon and hadn't played football since his freshman year.

"In the spring, my coach came into my class room, picked me out of class and I have been playing football ever since," Mack said.

As the two stood in the hallway, Ashmon saw a 6-foot-1, 215-pound physical specimen "with the muscles coming through his clothes" and asked Mack, "What do I need to do to get you on the football field?'

"He said, 'Coach, I would love to play. You've just got to talk with my dad,'" Ashmon said.

Ashmon pulled out his cell phone on the spot and made his pitch to Sandy Mack.

"I've never done this before, but I told him if you allow Khalil to come play for me, I promise he will go to college for free," Ashmon said.

Mack led Westwood with 140 tackles on a 10-2 team, but with only one year of varsity football in a talent-laden state, only Liberty University of Lynchburg, Va., was interested. However, when a Liberty assistant accepted a job at Buffalo, it helped land Mack a full scholarship.

"He just got overlooked," Ashmon said. "Coaches would come in and say he looks the part, but they didn't have enough film on him. I'd tell them, I don't care what y'all say, the kid's going to be a first-round draft pick in five years."

Tepper, the Buffalo defensive coordinator since 2012, has coached at nine schools since 1967 and put 20 linebackers on NFL rosters. At Illinois in 1996, when Tepper was the head coach, the Illini had linebackers Kevin Hardy and Simeon Rice taken with the No. 2 and 3 selections in the NFL draft.

"I've only had a few players who were what I call complete linebackers, that could play anywhere in a 3-4 or a 4-3 defense," Tepper said. "Oakland is getting someone with the talent to be a star at any of those positions."

Now 6-foot-2 and 251 pounds, Mack's ability to range sideline-to-sideline, rush the passer (28.5 career sacks) and strip the ball (16 forced fumbles) is enhanced by a will to prepare as well as to win.

"When he gets a tip sheet every day, he's got a highlighter out and works on it," Tepper said. "He knows how to work. He learns from written material, he learns from briefing material, he learns from walking through, and when the ball is snapped he'll play fast."

Mack finds motivation from perceived slights. He was so insulted by an EA sports video game which gave him a mediocre ranking of "46" that he made it his uniform number at Buffalo.

When an Ohio State assistant coach assessed Mack as"just a guy" going into the 2014 season opener, Tepper called Mack "JAG" all week. Mack responded with 2.5 sacks, a 45-yard interception return and nine tackles against the Buckeyes.

Buffalo head coach Jeff Quinn said Mack's drive reminds him of Joe Staley, the 49ers tackle who he coached at Eastern Michigan.

"He's as gifted a player as I've ever coached," Quinn said of Mack. "He lives it and loves it."

Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie said Mack "plays the game the way it's supposed to be played. He plays hard, he plays physical, he goes from snap to whistle. You might call it a chip on his shoulder or you can just call it being a football player."

Mack's mother Yolanda, an elementary school teacher, said of her son, "We all have something where we're a '10.' Khail was always athletic, always competitive in that way. Even at 5 he was doing pushups. He had these muscles."

Outgoing and team oriented, Mack entertained Buffalo teammates occasionally by singing and playing the guitar. His personality is in stark contrast to the last linebacker the Raiders took in the first round, the aloof and perpetually disinterested Rolando McClain at No. 8 in 2010.

Ashmon, who was with the Mack family in New York at the draft, laughed as he recounted the post-draft scene.

"He'll probably kill me for telling this story, but we were up in in his hotel room that night, he strips off his shirt, and he's jumping around, saying, 'Let's play right now!,'" Ashmon said.